Focus on diversification of crops, nutritional balance

FE Team | Published: January 10, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

FE Report
Experts and agriculturalists at a conference on Friday focused on diversification of crops, sustainable irrigation, and farmers' easy access to storage facility for helping ensure the country's food security.
They also observed that apart from enhancement of food production, ensuring nutritional balance is also vital for food security.
The comments were made at a working session styled 'Agricultural Development and Food Security'. It was held as a part of the three-day 19th Biennial Conference of Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) that will end today (Saturday).
Prof Tofazzal Hossain Mian of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) chaired the working session, which was dedicated to Late Prof M N Huda. A total of 12 papers were presented in the session.
Mohammad Monirul Islam, a PhD fellow at Rajshahi University, presented a paper titled 'Crop Diversification in Bangladesh: Constraint and Potentials'.
The paper mentioned that crop diversification is very necessary for raising productivity as well as ensuring better price for the farmers. It is an effective strategy for reducing risk of yield and price volatility of rice monoculture.
It also revealed that diversification of produces augments income and employment opportunities in the rural areas, where roughly three-fourth of gross crop area is engaged in producing single crop.
According to the paper, Rajshahi division is more diversified in crop pattern than that of other divisions in Bangladesh.
Prof Saidur Rahman, Department of Agricultural Economics, BAU, said sustainable irrigation is very vital for production.
He said intense dependence on groundwater for irrigation is risky in food production context.
Dr N C Nath said: "We will have to re-define the food security context".
The country's food production achieved a tremendous growth during the last two decades, but nutritional value in food is not praiseworthy. Ensuring nutritional balance is the most important part of ensuring food security, he added.
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